


New Beginning

by twinsarein



Category: Smallville
Genre: Holding Hands, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 07:48:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3720919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twinsarein/pseuds/twinsarein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his summer in Metropolis, Clark has been doing some serious thinking.  Lex wants to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> For Day Six of the 2015 Clexmas True Love Fest. The prompt was - Holding Hands

Lex slowed his car to a crawl, as he came to the end of the road at Crater Lake. Clark had been lost in though for days, and Lex wanted to help. He’d tried the loft first, but Lex knew Clark sometimes came to the lake, when he needed to think.

Sure enough, Clark was sitting by the water, idly throwing pebbles into the water. Reflexively, Lex noted that they went further than most people were able to throw, although not impossibly so. Lost in though, indeed.

From long habit, Lex forced himself to ignore the evidence in front of his eyes of Clark’s specialness. It had been hard to come to that decision, but Lex knew he had to let it go, or lose Clark’s friendship, forever.

Getting out of his car, Lex walked over to Clark, and without a thought for the extremely expensive suit he was wearing, he sat on the sand beside him. “Hello, Clark.”

Lex heard Clark release a deep breath, as though he’d been holding it for a while. “Hi, Lex.”

After that, silence descended on them, again. Lex didn’t mind that, he just wanted Clark to know he was there for him. Still it would be nice to talk, even if they didn’t get into what was bothering Clark. 

Looking out at the mountains surrounding the lake, Lex smiled. “Do you know, most of the country believes Kansas to be flat?

Clark lets out a small chuckle. “Maybe these mountains are hidden from view then. Our very own Shangri-La.”

Letting out a surprised laugh, Lex nodded in agreement. “Minus the near Utopian society, of course.”

Giving a wry chuckle, Clark got to his feet. “Yeah, Utopia is not a word I would use to describe Smallville.” Clark brushed off the back of his pants, and Lex surreptitiously enjoyed watching Clark’s big hands brushing over his ass.

Since he was brushing off the sand, Lex figured he wouldn’t be sitting back down again. Not wanting to get caught staring, he got to his own feet, cursorily brushing sand off his own clothes.

“I need to move, Lex. Do you want to walk along the shore, with me?”

Inclining his head, Lex said, “I’d be agreeable to that.”

Clark turned and started walking along the water’s edge. Lex fell into step beside him, several inches of air between them. Just as he was about to ask what had been bothering Clark over the last several days, Clark beat him to the punch. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since I got back from my summer in Metropolis.”

Thinking about how to best respond, Lex turned his head to look at Clark and nodded. “You have been preoccupied, lately. Is there anything you’d like to...talk about?”

Shrugging, Clark looked at the ground. Not as though he was ignoring Lex’s gaze, but as if he was struggling with what to say. “It was...really hard to hear you were dead. Even with everything I was going through, sometimes all I could think about was that you weren’t there, anymore.”

Opening his mouth to apologize to Clark for not being there for him, Clark beat him to it, again. “It made me start to realize how much you’ve done for me since I met you, how much you’ve been there for me. And, I felt that compared to you, I hadn’t been a very good friend.”

“What are you talking about, Clark? The very first thing you ever did for me, was save my life.”

“Yeah, but...that was before we’d even really met, and...that’s not what I meant, anyway.” Clark made a cutting motion with his hand. Slashing downward, as though trying to wipe his words away. Lex could see the frustration in the gesture. “I’m not saying this right.”

Putting a hand on Clark’s shoulder, Lex squeezed gently. “Take your time, Clark. There’s no hurry.”

“See, this is what I mean. You’re willing to give me anything I need; be anything I need. That’s what I realized in Metropolis, and that...I didn’t have that anymore. I didn’t have you anymore.”

Practically holding his breath at the emotion in Clark’s voice, at what his tone was revealing, Lex made sure to release it slowly, so it wouldn’t break Clark’s concentration. He had the feeling he wanted to hear where this was going. 

He almost started in surprise when Clark’s hand brushed his, but he managed to suppress it. He hadn’t realized the distance between them had eroded to almost nothing. 

For each step they took, their hands brushed together, and Lex’s hand twitched, wanting to slide around Clark’s. He had to fight off the impulse, and the heat that flashed through him at the contact, so he could think straight. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you, Clark. It sounds as though you could have really used someone, this summer. I wasn’t there, then, but I’ll do my best to be here for you, now.”

Clark’s hand brushed against his again, but this time, the touch lingered, and Lex felt one of Clark’s fingers slide up and back down one of his own. Tingles traveled up and down his arm at the simple touch. Lex thought about all the men and women he’d been with over the years, the combinations of people he’d been with, the positions he’d tried, the kinks he’d explored. 

Not one of them made him feel as good as the too-short touch he’d just gotten from Clark. Wanting to make sure he wasn’t making a mistake, and thus scaring Clark away, Lex copied Clark’s caress exactly.

When he felt Clark’s hand sliding against his and fingers wrapping around his palm, he felt a fierce joy, and not a small measure of fear. He didn’t want to mess this up, as he’d messed up all his other relationships in the past.

“I know you will, Lex. And...I want to try to be there for you, too. I want to get better at it; to be a better person...for you.”

Clark held on a little tighter, and Lex mirrored him. Together, the continued walking down the sand, holding hands the whole way. Lex’s heart felt as though it might burst from his body. 

This could change everything.


End file.
